This invention relates to puzzle games, and more particularly, to an improved puzzle box with removable and unlockable top lid.
Normally, puzzle boxes are block-shaped boxes made of wood having sliding panels on the outside which when moved in the proper direction and sequence enable the top lid of the puzzle box to be unlocked and removed. Puzzle boxes and other puzzle block games have existed for a long time, having first been invented by the Chinese more than 1,000 years ago. Such prior puzzle boxes used merely sliding panels that would often slide beyond the corners of the box and thus could be lost.
The prior patented art relating to puzzle box device includes U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,558 by Marsh, dated Nov. 9, 1965, which teaches a puzzle box as interlocking removable panels which use latch, latches and catches to lock the panels. However, the Marsh patent utilizes no spring-loaded panels and does not use locking pins as does the present invention.
Soviet Patent No. 1,533,715 by Svinarenko, dated Jan. 7, 1990, shows a three-dimensional puzzle box game that has cubes which can be rotated, but bears no resemblance to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,466 by Nichols, dated Aug. 9, 1983, teaches a puzzle formed in multiple stacked disks that can be rotated into different patterns by depressing pegs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,430 by Suzuki, dated Jul. 30, 1991, teaches a spherical puzzle toy having projections that must be depressed in a certain pattern to unlock an internal mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,923 by Cloutier, dated Jun. 10, 1980, teaches a dice block puzzle with through holes with which in which notched rods must be inserted in a certain pattern for proper assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,948 by Gutierrez, dated Mar. 14, 1989, shows another block puzzle with pegs similar to the Cloutier patent.
Soviet Patent No. 1,440,519, dated Nov. 30, 1988, teaches a puzzle box with moveable tiles that can be moved from one cell to another and does utilize springs. However, it too has a different structure than the present invention.
Unlike the prior art, the puzzle box of the present invention has fixed-corner pieces on the sides which prevent the side panels from sliding beyond the corners of the sides and becoming lost. In addition, the present invention has sliding panels which are spring mounted and can be depressed to allow other panels to slide over them. Furthermore, locking pins extend from some of the side and top panels to make the puzzle more challenging and difficult to solve.
The latter novel features in the present invention provide numberous advantages and aobjectives not avilable hereto.